Large, spacious and with a decent price-quality ratio, Pátio Luanda is a brand new restaurant and event space in Morro Bento, about 500 meters from Cervejaria Fininho. It’s a good option for salarymen who work nearby and a great option for weekend lunches for families with kids.

Pátio Luanda is located on Avenida Comandante Loy, about 500 meters past Cervejaria Fininho if you’re heading towards Samba and very close to Academia BAI. The restaurant looks rather small from the outside but it’s actually huge and there are plans to expand it further. It’ll have a large event space and already has two dining rooms (including a VIP room upstairs) and an outdoors area for smokers. It doesn’t have much in the way of parking space but will have a lot more in the future.

Pátio’s menu is predominantly Portuguese. Diners have the option of ordering a la carte or partaking in their buffet; we chose the former and ordered ‘Picanha à Pátio Luanda’ ($39) and ‘Bife à Portuguesa’ ($40). We did however have a peek at the well-stocked buffet, which among its choices had the ubiquitous cod fish, grilled meat and palm-oil beans.

Unfortunately we had to wait about 45 minutes for our order to finally arrive. Naturally we protested at the waiting time, but were assured by our waiter, who apologized for the wait, that this was due to a “problem in the kitchen”. Later, the manager himself delivered our food, which, by the way, was really quite good.